Wen warns EU over rights, trade

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told European Commission President Romano Prodi that it was an economic mistake to link China's progress regarding human rights to trade. Wen made the comment in Brussels, Belgium as he urged the EU to lift its ban on arms sales to China, which were passed in the wake of the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. Wen was also pressing the EU to grant China market economy status under the World Trade Organization, a move that would make it more difficult for the EU to take action against China for dumping inexpensive goods on the European market. China and the EU signed four trade and customs cooperation agreements during Wen's Brussels visit.